bushers vs bearings, swingarm options...

L

lonetree

New member
so i have left checking my swing arm bearings a bit too long again, most of the larger bearings i could revive, but the shock to linkage bearing is too far gone...
got to thinking about bushes in there, as i know they are available...(synergy seals eg.)
anyone with first hand knowledge of these? do they last longer?
ps please excuse my spelling mistake in title, on painkillers atm.... damn acl's
 
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I can't speak about the bushing kits as I've never used them, or personally saw a need.

Swingarm and linkage bearings will last a long time- the life of the bike, if a few simple steps are taken;

Mix a bit of anti-seize with good quality grease and pack them full when the bike is new, or when servicing them or replacing old rusted out/ruined ones.

Coat all mating surfaces of the bolts, the inner race, spacers/bushings etc. with this mix as well. Keep the bolt threads clean, as you'll want blue loctite on there.

If you're riding in a lot of deep water, or muddy conditions, ie. every ride; Check them every 25-50hrs of riding, or twice a season, whichever comes first.
If only hitting moderate water/mud conditions; check them every 100 hours, or once a season, whichever comes first.

Usually checking them is as simple as pulling the lower shock bolt out, as the lower shock bearing is the most vulnerable to contamination and deterioration. This only takes a few minutes.
If everything on that bolt/bearing is still coated with your grease/anti-seize mix and looks like when you installed it, you're good to go on the rest of them.
If the lower shock bearing needs servicing, check all the others.
Usually, the swingarm bearings will only need to be serviced at half the rate as the linkage bearings & the linkage bearings at half the rate of the lower shock bearing.

EDIT - every time bike is washed, or each day it has been ridden thru a bunch of deep water/mud etc., it really helps to squirt a touch of WD40 on each side of each pivot point. This only takes a minute or so to do the whole bike, including the axle seals.
Avoid using power washers when cleaning your bike.
These steps are quite basic and easy to do & take very little time & little cost. Yet they save you a bunch of time, money and grief over the life of the bike.


Do these simple steps and the rear suspension bearings etc. will last the life of the bike.
 
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what you say is true, but i live in the tropics so we have terrible dust, fine mud, warm conditions, high moisture, and salt in the air... i regularly do 24-30 hrs minimum a month...... just looking at options... true the stock bearings are good, seals or orings, but my bikes take a beating....:) anti seize hey... any particular brand?
 
lonetree said:
what you say is true, but i live in the tropics so we have terrible dust, fine mud, warm conditions, high moisture, and salt in the air... i regularly do 24-30 hrs minimum a month...... just looking at options... true the stock bearings are good, seals or orings, but my bikes take a beating....:) anti seize hey... any particular brand?
Click to expand...

I hear ya, I live in Florida. I just serviced my swingarm bearings and all link bearings. I was very surprised about the swingarm bearings, they had a ton of stuff in them. Sand,black mud, swamp water, cow,pig,goose, panther,bear and alligator poop etc. They cleaned up really well and I repacked them with Bel-Ray salt water proof grease. If I had ridden them in that condition once or twice more they would have been trashed.

The other thing that surprised me was the steering head bearings. The bottom one was totally shot to heck, just a complete wreck. I've never seen a steering head bearing that wiped out in my life.
 
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lonetree said:
what you say is true, but i live in the tropics so we have terrible dust, fine mud, warm conditions, high moisture, and salt in the air... i regularly do 24-30 hrs minimum a month...... just looking at options... true the stock bearings are good, seals or orings, but my bikes take a beating....:) anti seize hey... any particular brand?
Click to expand...

Come and ride the Canadian Shield- very abrasive mud, zillions of mud holes/water holes, deep water, dust, sand, crap, slop, you name it. It's all the same wherever you go on this planet; dirt bikes get put thru hell.
PS I've ridden in parts of OZ as well.....

Any name brand of anti-seize will be fine; Loctite, Permatex, etc. Mix about 5-10 to 1 grease to anti-seize.
 
I currently have the synergyseals bushes. Seem to be holding up ok but need to replace the lower shock bearing - find my review of the synergyseals bushes on here to get my initial view on fit
They do not come with the pin so if your pins are worn you will have play
 
3beejay3 said:
Come and ride the Canadian Shield- very abrasive mud, zillions of mud holes/water holes, deep water, dust, sand, crap, slop, you name it. It's all the same wherever you go on this planet; dirt bikes get put thru hell.
PS I've ridden in parts of OZ as well.....

Any name brand of anti-seize will be fine; Loctite, Permatex, etc. Mix about 5-10 to 1 grease to anti-seize.
Click to expand...

I will have to try mixing the anti-seize with the grease.
 
I used to use belray waterproof, but have since moved to a Molygrease.

http://www.penriteoil.com.au/products.php?id_categ=14&id_subcateg=71&id_products=103

Molygrease EP 3% is an all purpose, NLGI 2, high temperature grease. It features a lithium soap base with premium quality base oils and molybdenum disulphide (moly) for added protection.

Checks all the boxes for application, and I have yet to have any issues. Every time I've pulled the lower/upper shock bearing or any of the linkages there is always a nice coating of grease and it's never dried out or sticky like the belray would get. Just a nice slick coating everywhere you need it.
 
ok im gonna find some antisieze, and get some good old Penrite grease, and try again.... i have noticed, some of bearings have the o rings as seals and some the seals,,, seals seem to be working better... :o
 
Jakobi said:
I used to use belray waterproof, but have since moved to a Molygrease.

http://www.penriteoil.com.au/products.php?id_categ=14&id_subcateg=71&id_products=103

Molygrease EP 3% is an all purpose, NLGI 2, high temperature grease. It features a lithium soap base with premium quality base oils and molybdenum disulphide (moly) for added protection.

Checks all the boxes for application, and I have yet to have any issues. Every time I've pulled the lower/upper shock bearing or any of the linkages there is always a nice coating of grease and it's never dried out or sticky like the belray would get. Just a nice slick coating everywhere you need it.
Click to expand...

I had read some stuff about moly being "hygroscopic" (attracts water from the atmosphere). (Honey has a long shelf life because it is hygroscopic.). A lot of guys on the firearms pages contend moly absorbs water and that moly is almost impossible to clean off. It seems that if you apply moly and shoot moly coated rounds then switch back to non moly coated rounds it results in copper and lead contamination combined with the moly which is a nightmare to remove.
 
Have heard similar things myself, but in application I am yet to see any issues and you'd be hard pressed to find a more humid tropical environment than what I live in; rainforest.

A bit off topic, but certain types of ATF also have this same property, yet you rarely hear it brought up during transmission discussions.

Also, are you better off having the moly component (which is only a small percentage) absorb any water which makes it's way into the area and then become suspended within the grease content? Belray waterproof repells the water, but once it finds its way in it tends to make direct contact with the parts you are trying to keep the moisture away from.

I'm not saying one is better than the other, but from my experience I have had to replace bearings which were packed with belray, and non yet with moly. Both being serviced at similar intervals, used in the same conditions... submerged in water every ride, and left standing in humid conditions when not in use.
 
Added an edit to my post near start of thread. Realized I missed a key point.

After the bike gets wet, a bit of WD40 on the pivot points etc. goes a long way to helping the grease/anti seize do its job. After I wash my bike, or if I've been in a bunch of deep water & mud during a ride, I squirt a bit of WD40 on each side of each pivot point & on each axle seal. This helps get any water out that may have taken up residence. It also helps keep the grease mix from gumming up over time. It only takes about a minute to do the bike each time.

One other thing - it really helps to avoid using power washers to clean your bike. Household water pressure is best.

The process of grease/anti seize/WD40 is really just about keeping water & goo from taking up residence in the pivot points & protecting the small parts and lube that's in each pivot.
It's easy and cheap to do so & saves you a bunch of grief & cash over the life of the bike.

I've been doing this method for about 7-8 years now on suspension, steering and wheels. I usually put 80-120 hours a year on my bikes and usually keep them for 3-5 years. I ride in all types of conditions. In that time I've only ever had to replace one steering head bearing on one bike & that was because I got lazy and didn't check the steering head bearings on that bike as part of my annual checks.
Never have had to replace any wheel or suspension bearings.
 
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